Location: Mongolia is located in the center of the Asian continent between two large neighbors Russian Federation and China. Area: 1566500 sq. km Average altitude: 1580 meters above sea level. Mongolia's capital, Ulaanbaatar, is 1350 meters above sea level. Landscape: Mountains dominate two-thirds of the country, nearly 8% of the territory is covered by forest and most of the landscape is wide open grasslands, plains, and desert. Climate: The climate is continental. The coldest month is January and the temperature falls anywhere from -25 to -40C. The hottest month is July and the temperature rises to anywhere between 20 and 30C. The average annual precipitation is 200-220 mm. Wind average speed Is 1.5-4.5 rn/s. Sunshine: Mongolia is a remarkably sunny country. There ore over 250 sunny days a year, making Mongolia the "Land of Blue Skies". At night you can see an amazing display of stars. Nationality: Mongolian with a variety of ethnic groups Population: 2.4 million. About 60% of the population is below 25. The capital Ulaanbaatar has 720,000 inhabitants. Languages: The official language is Mongolian (Khalkha Mongolian) spoken by the 85% of the population. The remaining 15% speaks Kazakh and Tuvan. Literacy: Almost all Mongolian adults are literate. Many Mongolians speak and understand Russian. There is a growing desire to learn foreign languages, especially English, Japanese and German. Religion: The main religion of Mongolia is Buddhism with a minority of believers in Shamanism, Islam, and Christianity. Government: Mongolia has a parliamentary government with a President. The president is elected by general election. Parliamentary and Presidential elections take place every 4 years. Administrative subdivisions: Mongolia has 21 aimags (provinces). The aimags are then divided into smaller divisions referred to as soums. Currency: Mongolia has no limit on foreign currency and cheques. Civilization: Pastoralism is the primary livelihood of rural communities, while Ulaanbaatar is the urban center of the country. Telecommunications: In Mongolia, most hotels and business centers have International direct dialing, as well as telex, fax facilities, and Internet connection. Energy: There are many coal fired power stations for electricity generation. Some of the electricity is imported from Russia. Wind and solar power are used locally on a small scale in Mongolia but the potential for expansion in this sector is considerable. Monetary unit: Tugrog (MNT). Time Zone: UTC/GMT +8 hours